Sole Commissioner Steve Taylor approved two new data center projects during his Wednesday morning meeting, including one that required rezoning of 876 acres from agricultural to BPD.
Taylor approved rezoning 75 acres in Spring Place near Pine Log for a separate data center. He also approved rezoning 36.5 acres on Wynn Loop on Highway 411 for a battery plant.
The commissioner’s conference room was full of people concerned about controversial issues, but few spoke. Most said they felt all of the matters were going to be approved regardless of opposition.
Two people spoke against the rezoning of the 876 acres on Taff Road in Stilesboro to construct one of the largest data centers in the area, called Project Bunkhouse. The construction of the 8.6 million-square-foot facility will be on the Gaines farm, owned by Gaines Family Land LLC. The farm is currently a cattle farm. The applicant for the rezoning is Taurus DC SPE LLC but the data center will be managed by Digital Realty, which owns more than 300 data centers across the U.S.
One of those speaking said she was concerned that Georgia Power would use eminent domain on her land near Plant Bowen to run more lines to provide required power to the data center. She was assured by Scott Peters, who made the presentation to the commissioner, that wouldn’t happen as everything needed was in place.
Patti Everette, who lives nearby, said the county government is “taking beautiful land and making it ugly.” She questioned the amount of power and water the project would take to run daily and said she didn’t want it.
The commissioner approved the rezoning with six conditions proposed by the Bartow County Planning and Zoning Commission. They limit use of the land, require a buffer, mandate water efficiency technology, set total square footage limits, require the construction and operation to abide by the county data center policy, and restrict access to the data center.
Cartersville attorney Lester Tate gained approval for the Spring Place data center project near White early in the meeting. No one spoke against the project, which was tabled at the last commissioner’s meeting. Tate said the project is next to a planned 40-acre Georgia Power substation, making it the perfect location. Georgia Power used eminent domain to acquire the land. He said the current owner had a buyer and needed this rezoning to finalize the deal.
The battery storage plant proposal had some opposition from nearby landowner Paul Walker. Walker said he felt people hadn’t been told everything about the project and suspected there could be severe negative impacts on adjacent properties. He was specifically worried about how fires or chemical spills would be handled.
Alan Baker is a local developer representing the applicant Zinnia Energy Center LLC and property owner Ergodic LLC with Rares and Monica Roman at the meeting. He said provisions were made for emergency responses in the application and he met with Bartow County Fire last Friday.
The $250 million project comes with a 20-year contract. Baker clarified the purpose of the plant in a post, stating the facility is a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).
“It pulls power (usuaslly pulling during off-peak demand times, helping to prevent power from being wasted) off the grid, stores it, then puts it back on the grid when the demand is high or power is needed,” Baker writes.
He said these types of facilities eliminate power waste and helps to keep energy prices down. This facility will store 260 megawatts of power. He said around 30 percent of the property will remain greenspace and traffic will be less than that of a residential home.
In other business:
The commissioner approved rezoning 3.31 acres on Cass/Pine Log Road from agricultural to commercial for applicant Cathy Raines.
Denied rezoning 5.088 acres on Tant Road from agricultural to commercial for owners Keith and Jeannette Carlile to create an outdoor storage lot.
Approved rezoning 3.12 acres on Rowland Springs Road for conditional use in the existing commercial zoning for outdoor storage.
Approved an alcohol license for Runningman LLC.
Approved appointing Melinda Lemmon to the Bartow-Floyd-Polk Joint Development Authority
Approved a Juvenile Court-Family Treatment Court Services Agreement.
Melody Dareing is a freelance writing for publications in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Germany. She is a former news director of Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF Radio.